The London Fire Department will be without its only aerial platform truck for an undetermined amount of time after it was involved in a serious crash with a large construction vehicle.
It happened around 1 a.m. Friday at Wellington and King when the vehicle was on its way back to the firehall after responding to an alarm.
“The truck had the right of way, and the green light, and as it proceeded through the intersection, a payloader ran the red light and impacted the truck at the front passenger side corner.” Deputy Fire Chief Brian George told AM980.
“After the payloader hit the truck, it spun down the side of the truck and caused even more damage.” he said, adding the driver of the fire truck showed great skill in keeping the vehicle on the road without hitting any other vehicles or buildings.
Three people were onboard the fire truck at the time – a captain, an operator, and a firefighter on the back.
“They all received minor injuries, bumps and bruises. They were all belted in, but that kind of an impact bounced them around pretty good. No major injuries, though, they were all checked out.” said George.
The truck was not as lucky.
It’s now out of commission with preliminary estimates pegging the damage at between $60,000-$75,000.
“This is the only aerial platform truck that we have – that’s commonly referred to as the ‘bucket truck,’ it’s the one that has the platform at the top that firefighters can operate from.”
“We still have two other 100 foot aerial trucks, and we also have three other trucks with 75 foot aerials. We’ve moved one of those trucks into the aerial platform space for now, so we do have aerial coverage – we just don’t have as good an aerial coverage as we prefer to have.” said George.
The driver of the payloader that hit the fire truck has been charged under the highway traffic act.
